There was a help wanted sign out front and I was asking for my sister, who wants to earn more than the 8 bucks (Australian) she makes as a sandwich artise at Subway, but the manager wouldn't tell me what salary would be. I'm guessing from that that the answer is "not much," but even so I can't understand the logic behind not revealing the salary of a job a company is offering.

They may pay more dependent on experience. It also could be that privacy laws would apply (eg if your sister wants you to know what she makes she can tell you) or that he has employees that were hired in for less than what he is hiring for now. Or he just thought it strange that someone would be inquring about a job for someone else.

The salaries at the BBV I worked for varied quite a bit. When I got hired, the managment was trying to hire at high wages, and so a lot of my seniors made less than me. This is common knowledge among the employees. So there really isn't any way for your average worker-drone to know what a new hire would be hired at. Chances are the managment hasn't made up their mind on the subject at that point anyway.

A place that pays badly won't tell people what the pay could be. The managers have learned that people that are already working will laugh in their face. The places that pay really good don't have a problem telling people what they could earn, if they came on over to their company. Any store you go to that has alot of fancy job titles for lowly positions, is a bunch of realy cheap b*****S.

It's also a negotiating ploy. If no salary is mentioned, they can give you the smallest salary they want. Few people will walk away once they're told their hired, and even fewer will insist on higher wages at that point.

I see nothing wrong in asking for a figure while applying; if they refuse, they're trying to manipulate you.

__________________
"East is East and West is West and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does."Purveyor of fine science fiction since 1982.

4. It could change between the time you're told and the time your sister applies.

5. If you told him you were inquiring on behalf of someone, he might just not want to tell YOU
5a. For example, he could think you work at a competitor that's trying to figure out how much to pay your own employees (at a slightly higher rate than him)
5b. Or, on the lines of #4, say he tells you that it's $10/hr. You then tell your sister, who comes in expecting that much. During the interview, he offers her just $9/hr (for whatever reason). Now he's lost a candidate, and likely just peeved off two customers (you and her).

6. He didn't know what they pay. He might not have been authorized to make that sort of decision.

I should add that you shouldn't ask about the salary early on in the interview; it gives a the impression you're only interested in money. But as things progress, it's certainly a legitimate question.

*for "professional" jobs*

I was taught that it is bad etiquite to bring up salary until you've officially been offered the job. I think you're supposed to pretend that you're far more interested in the job itself and what a great match you are for the comany, and that salary is secondary.

But as far as a job like Blockbuster, who cares? Nobody's getting rich working at Blockbuster, they might as well tell you the wage.

You know what's weird? When I was in high school and college, I always thought that working at Blockbuster would be a great part time job. I applied several times and never got a call! What, with my GREAT credentials and experience at retail stores, competitive GPA, and my beautiful penmanship on the application, I was passed over? What a bunch of Nazis!